-Left hand.
Do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury
that the testimony you're about to give
is true and correct to the best of your knowledge,
information, and belief, so help you God?
-Good morning, Chairman Nadler and Ranking Member Collins
and the members of the Committee.
As you know, in May 2017, the Acting Attorney General
asked me to serve as Special Counsel.
I undertook that role because I believed
that it was of paramount interest to the nation
to determine whether a foreign adversary had interfered
in the presidential election.
As the Acting Attorney General said at the time,
the appointment was necessary in order for the American people
to have full confidence in the outcome.
My staff and I carried out this assignment
with that critical objective in mind --
to work quietly, thoroughly, and with integrity
so that the public would have full confidence in the outcome.
The order appointing me as Special Counsel
directed our Office
to investigate Russian interference
in the 2016 presidential election.
This included investigating any links or coordination
between the Russian government and individuals
associated with the Trump campaign.
It also included investigating efforts to interfere
with or obstruct our investigation.
Throughout the investigation,
I continually stressed two things to the team
that we had assembled.
First, we needed to do our work as thoroughly as possible
and as expeditiously as possible.
It was in the public interest
for our investigation to be complete,
but not to last a day longer than was necessary.
Second, the investigation needed to be conducted fairly
and with absolute integrity.
Our team would not leak or take other actions
that could compromise the integrity of our work.
All decisions were made based on the facts and the law.
During the course of our investigation,
we charged more than 30 defendants
with committing federal crimes,
including 12 officers of the Russian military.
Seven defendants have been convicted or pled guilty.
Certain of the charges we brought remain pending today.
And for those matters, I stress
that the indictments contain allegations
and every defendant is presumed innocent
unless and until proven guilty.
In addition to the criminal charges we brought,
as required by Justice Department regulations,
we submitted a confidential report to the Attorney General
at the conclusion of our investigation.
The report set forth the results of our work
and the reasons for our charging and declination decisions.
The Attorney General later made the report largely public.
As you know, I made a few limited remarks about our report
when we closed the Special Counsel's Office
in May of this year.
But there are certain points that bear emphasis.
First, our investigation found
that the Russian government interfered in our election
in sweeping and systematic fashion.
Second, the investigation did not establish that members
of the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government
in its election interference activities.
We did not address collusion, which is not a legal term.
Rather, we focused on whether the evidence
was sufficient to charge any member of the campaign
with taking part in a criminal conspiracy.
And it was not.
Third, our investigation of efforts
to obstruct the investigation
and lie to investigators was of critical importance.
Obstruction of justice strikes at the core
of the government's effort to find the truth
and to hold wrongdoers accountable.
Finally, as described in Volume II of our report,
we investigated a series of actions
by the president towards the investigation.
Based on Justice Department policy
and principles of fairness,
we decided we would not make a determination
as to whether the President committed a crime.
That was our decision then
and it remains our decision today.
Let me say a further word about my appearance today.
It is unusual for a prosecutor
to testify about a criminal investigation,
and given my role as a prosecutor,
there are reasons why my testimony
will necessarily be limited.
First, public testimony could affect several ongoing matters.
In some of these matters, court rules or judicial orders
limit the disclosure of information
to protect the fairness of the proceedings.
And consistent with longstanding Justice Department policy,
it would be inappropriate for me to comment
in any way that could affect an ongoing matter.
Second, the Justice Department has asserted privileges
concerning investigative information and decisions,
ongoing matters within the Justice Department,
and deliberations within our office.
These are Justice Department privileges that I will respect.
The Department has released the letter
discussing the restrictions on my testimony.
I therefore will not be able to answer questions
about certain areas that I know are of public interest.
For example, I am unable to address questions
about the opening of the FBI's Russia investigation,
which occurred months before my appointment,
or matters related to the so-called Steele Dossier.
These matters are the subject of ongoing review
by the Department.
Any questions on these topics should therefore be directed
to the FBI or the Justice Department.
As I explained when we closed
the Special Counsel's Office in May,
our report contains our findings and analysis
and the reasons for the decisions we made.
We conducted an extensive investigation over two years.
In writing the report, we stated the results
of our investigation with precision.
We scrutinized every word.
I do not intend to summarize
or describe the results of our work
in a different way in the course of my testimony today.
As I said on May 29, the report is my testimony,
and I will stay within that text.
And as I stated in May, I will not comment
on the actions of the Attorney General or of Congress.
I was appointed as a prosecutor,
and I intend to adhere to that role
and to the Department's standards that govern it.
I will be joined today
by the Deputy Special Counsel Aaron Zebley.
Mr. Zebley has extensive experience
as a federal prosecutor and at the FBI,
where he served as my Chief of Staff.
Mr. Zebley was responsible
for the day-to-day oversight
of the investigations conducted by our Office.
Now, I also want to again say thank you to the attorneys,
the FBI agents, the analysts, the professional staff
who helped us conduct this investigation
in a fair and independent manner.
These individuals, who spent nearly two years
working on this matter, were of the highest integrity.
And let me say one more thing.
Over the course of my career,
I have seen a number of challenges to our democracy.
The Russian government's effort to interfere in our election
is among the most serious.
And as I said on May 29th,
this deserves the attention of every American.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.